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Yeah Vic Tayback is like Dolph Sweet and they are both dead. But Dick Butkus, who is like Dolph and Vic, is still alive and rich. He retired from acting successfully!

I'll always remember Vic Tayback as Mel, especially in the scenes where he rang his bell and barked "Pick up!" He always referred to Vera as "Dinghy" and Jolene in the later episodes as "Blondie."

You can alos catch Tayback on two or three of the old "Monkees" programmes,usually as a swindler or hood.

Vic also guested in a couple of Bewitched episodes. I loved Vic/Mel. He was very close in real life to Philip McKeon, who was about the same age as Vic's real-life son. Vic would take the boys to ballgames, the racetrack, and the like. He obviously had a huge heart and is still missed to this day.

Similarly,Robert Reed grew VERY close with his TV-land offsprings.

Yup - he may have hated the show itself, but he adored his TV kids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Piece_of_the_Action_(TOS_episode)

Jojo Cracko in Star Trek (TOS) "A Piece of the Action". Actually one of my favorite Trek episodes although some might think it is cheesy. Was the first reference to the Star Trek card game "Fizzbin".

Both Vic Tayback and Dolph Sweet are dead already. But Dick Butkus is still alive!